Abstract
It is now beyond doubt that intra-uterine environment and in particular maternal natural oestrogen levels as well as the levels of ingested environmental chemical xenooestrogen ingestion can influence the risk of the foetus subsequently developing a malignant germ cell cancer after puberty [1]. It is also clear that a major component of this intrauterine effect is because excess intra-uterine oestrogens contribute to the development of defects in descent of the testis into the scrotum. More controversial is the contribution of intra-uterine events to the neoplastic transformation of intratubular germ cells relative to the contribution of post-pubertal events [2]. It is the aim of this brief review to focus on the role of post pubertal testicular atrophic factors in the neoplastic transformation of prepubertally primed but not transformed spermatogonia.
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References
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© 2002 Springer-Verlag London Limited
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Oliver, R.T.D. (2002). The Atrophy Hypothesis and Development of Malignant Germ Cell Cancers of the Testis. In: Harnden, P., Joffe, J.K., Jones, W.G. (eds) Germ Cell Tumours V. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3281-3_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3281-3_14
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